With having 6 hours of intense yoga practice , breath work and chanting practices a day you begin to drift into a zone of walking yoga zombie. In just 3 days I have seen my body open up and move to depths I hadnt before witnessed. Along with that I have tested my patience and mind control. Everyday we have an hour of pranayama class.... "Prana" breath, lifeforce flows through our body and is the connecter between mind and body. In Pranayama class we practice controlling the breath and deepening the breath so that we are fully utilizing and increasing our lung capacity. Its the essence of yoga but let me tell you its not easy. After a 90 minute dripping sweat vinyasa practice I wrap myself with a shawl and sit in half lotus to begin observing my breath. The teacher walks by and instructs you for what YOUR individual practice will be. In very simple words he says " 30 observations, 50 4 by 6 , 40 4 by 6 each side , 30 nadi shodhana" I nod my head and begin. Inhale .... exhale....Inhale.....exhale.... half way through my mind wanders to food.... inhale ....exhale..... bringing the mind back to the foundation as we are instructed to focus on the third eye, sit up straight, and breathe smoothly. Everytime I think Im sitting up straight the teacher comes by and fixes my neck and straightens my ...ahh...that is straight...wow what a difference. I continue ... inhhale....exhale... wanting sooo sooo bad to be done and wanting to lie down in shavasna.... i continue breathing. Now if you have ever tried sitting for a long period of time in one position you may know that things begin to fall asleep or go numb. Half way through the practice I realized my legs were completely numb and at first it was a euphoric high... i focused more intensely on my breath and continued. Then I wondered what happens if you continue sitting and cut of blood supply to the lower extremities... could that be dangerous??? I continue to breathe... now wanting the breath to move faster , the numbness is distracting my head and make me get the shakes ... I continue to breathe and get half way through the last 30 excercise ... I stop to ask a question and when I return back to the breath I had given up and into the mind , I moved my seat position and finished off the last 15 . I asked the teacher about the numbness and his answer is " yes yes that is very good..." Basically its better to continue in the same seat and allow the numbness to occur , ignoring it and focusing on what is important ...the breath.
Finally done and ready to lie down in shavasana...until tomorrow .
Breathe.....
